Is Marantz dead?

[Doodski]

ok, so in marantz-speak, curated means assembled. Got it!
I always thought it meant... well, you know... what the dictionary says it means. I am old fashioned that way, I suppose.
Kinda makes one wonder why Schiit doesn't advertise their products as curated in the US.

It's an awkward use of the word curated at best.

 

[Galliardist]

ok, so in marantz-speak, curated means assembled. Got it!
I always thought it meant... well, you know... what the dictionary says it means. I am old fashioned that way, I suppose.
Kinda makes one wonder why Schiit doesn't advertise their products as curated in the US.

It's more or less a noise word in this part of the world now. I think I saw a reference to someone curating burgers in a "news story" a couple of weeks ago.

 

[mhardy6647]

It's more or less a noise word in this part of the world now. I think I saw a reference to someone curating burgers in a "news story" a couple of weeks ago.

Yeah, but it is usually in the sense of "there are 10,000 different varieties of paper clips available. We curate a collection of the absolute finest 50 best selections. The sine qua non."

In the present case, I am imagining an artisanal solderer deftly approaching a bin of 2.2 kohm 1/4 watt resistors, inhaling deeply, looking upward, slowly closing their eyes as they softly exhale, piously muttering an invocation, and then using long, supple, smooth-skinned (and well manicured) fingertips to evaluate a bolus of the resistors carefully, ultimately selecting the four needed to assemble today's HDAM. A lengthy task, but the audible results justify the expense.

 

[Doodski]

Yeah, but it is usually in the sense of "there are 10,000 different varieties of paper clips available. We curate a collection of the absolute finest 50 best selections. The sine qua non."

In the present case, I am imagining an artisanal solderer deftly approaching a bin of 2.2 kohm 1/4 watt resistors, inhaling deeply, looking upward, slowly closing their eyes as they softly exhale, piously muttering an invocation, and then using long, supple, smooth-skinned (and well manicured) fingertips to evaluate a bolus of the resistors carefully, ultimately selecting the four needed to assemble today's HDAM. A lengthy task, but the audible results justify the expense.

I was imagining only the finest female virgins would be capable of handling such a pure and just task. Either that or eunuch males tasked with protecting the princesses and hired for their happy disposition and then trained in SMD soldering. Only the purest soldering will suffice!

 

[mhardy6647]

Truth be told, I was thinking of this person when I typed that.

They've clearly got artisanal curator cred.
OK, I'll stop. Back to the topic at hand. marantz.

 

[Doodski]

Truth be told, I was thinking of this person when I typed that.
View attachment 395995
They've clearly got artisanal curator cred.
OK, I'll stop. Back to the topic at hand. marantz.

Hehe... If I where a betting man I would say she is melting the PCI slot in white with the soldering iron

 

[Galliardist]

Hehe... If I where a betting man I would say she is melting the PCI slot in white with the soldering iron

I'm pretty sure you'd lose that one. Stock photo. I'd be shocked if the soldering iron was plugged in!

 

[Doodski]

I'm pretty sure you'd lose that one. Stock photo. I'd be shocked if the soldering iron was plugged in!

LoL... True that.

 

[Galliardist]

Truth be told, I was thinking of this person when I typed that.
View attachment 395995
They've clearly got artisanal curator cred.
OK, I'll stop. Back to the topic at hand. marantz.

And is the real reason so many of these devices are so rare and expensive that you (and of course not forgetting @restorer-john) own most of them?

 

[restorer-john]

And is the real reason so many of these devices are so rare and expensive that you (and of course not forgetting @restorer-john) own most of them?

I've only got a few Marantz 70s era pieces left, so you can't blame me.

 

[multichannel_guy]

OH BROTHER. Why you want to mess up my day with a moronic video like that.

The wire example is just a very obvious example of lunacy (it stands out). The lesser obvious examples of financial lunacy are for example, a preamp or an amp costing as much as a car or a speaker costing more than a expensive car.
The latter episodes of lunacy can become normalized in the minds of some guys, when they buy incrementally expensive things over time.

In other words, if you ask a guy who's buying 2000 dollar gear to suddenly get something for 20,000, something wouldn't add up for him. But, if he incrementally ramped up over time, 2000 to 4000 to 8000 to 16,000, etc, he will begin to normalize it in his head. A little box with a circuit in it could become worth as much as a car to him over time, it seems.

 

[mhardy6647]

I've only got a few Marantz 70s era pieces left, so you can't blame me.

I think there is just one left here, actually -- a 1060 (the nicer of the two I had).
I think.

 

[restorer-john]

I think there is just one left here, actually -- a 1060 (the nicer of the two I had).
I think.

I've kept a mint 1152DC as it was my favourite from 1970s Marantz. One of these beauties:

I sold all my 1060s about 13 years ago when the prices were high- now they are insane...

Oh, anda couple of receivers and tuners I forgot about, including one I really should fix- thanks for reminding me. LOL.

 

[Doodski]

I've kept a mint 1152DC as it was my favourite from 1970s Marantz. One of these beauties:

View attachment 396000

I sold all my 1060s about 13 years ago when the prices were high- now they are insane...

Oh, anda couple of receivers and tuners I forgot about, including one I really should fix- thanks for reminding me. LOL.

That contour control has my interest up.

 

[Galliardist]

That contour control has my interest up.

If Marantz really wanted to relate back to their past glories, they could easily implement features like that into their new amplifiers in software. Instead they can't even offer what rivals at a tenth of the price are putting into streamers, if the description of that upcoming Link 10n is to be believed. Do pretty lights and virtual VU meters cut it?

 

[pablolie]

None of this brand engineering is new in audio. How long was Luxman gone until it was credibly revived? Preciously few remain... NAD has gone through it, TEAC “esoteric" has, Technics disappeared before relaunched... Pioneer and Sansui or Revox or Tandberg totally gone etc etc but they'll get revived in more or less credible ways.

 

[Doodski]

If Marantz really wanted to relate back to their past glories, they could easily implement features like that into their new amplifiers in software. Instead they can't even offer what rivals at a tenth of the price are putting into streamers, if the description of that upcoming Link 10n is to be believed. Do pretty lights and virtual VU meters cut it?

It's a machinists' wet dream for sure. It has bass and treble controls...

 

[cvangen]

They're just about the same across the board (no power advantage). You paid more for the nicer Marantz exterior and questionable advantages of HDAM.

Marantz Cinema 30 vs Denon AVR-X6800H: Comprehensive Comparison

Compare the Marantz Cinema 30 and Denon AVR-X6800H. Discover the differences in features, specs, performance, and find out which A/V receiver is the best for you.

www.zkelectronics.com

I guess using this logic means that my Primare Amp at only 120W is a substantial downgrade in performance from the built-in amps on the X4800H, SR7012 and the Cinema 30?....like power rating somehow translates to audio quality??

I paid for the receiver that sounded better to me in a back to back sound test on the same equipment, source material and room. I know some of you crave this concept that a measured number is going to give you the all of the validation of better or worse sound, and if you can't find it or hear the expected difference or understand it, then you want to put it down. I think the measured numbers give you a great place to start a listening evaluation for multiple components. It certainly helps to get an engineering understanding of the effort placed into good performance in a component. But, that is it....a starting place. Then, I would simply request that you do the obvious. Sit down and listen to your favorite music or movie and buy which one put a smile on your face. If you can't tell the difference, buy the least expensive unit and go home happy. But, you should not cut down others decision and discount it as psycho acoustic phenomena and questionable design improvements because you can't hear a difference or are trying to support your own purchase.

How many times in your life have you had a product that didn't measure up spec wise or review wise, but ended up being your favorite. I mean cars, stereos, bicycles...etc.. I love Cannondale bicycles. Why? the seating position, ease of pedaling for my body type and general comfort of the ride. How many times did the Specialized bike win the reviews when directly compared... Lots of times. I rode the Specialized, took it for a test drive, I tried as hard as I could to like it, other people did so what the hell is my problem....and yet when it came down to purchasing, I bought what I liked better..the Cannondale.

Conceptually, this is the same process I used on Denon vs Marantz here......no psycho value involved. The reality is: I don't care about Denon or Marantz or frankly the relative difference in price. My preference is to spend less money...which is why I tried the X4800H first; it got good reviews. Here is the funny part.....I hate the little Marantz portal. It's too small to be usable for my old eyes. I much prefere the Denon industrial design. So your comment on nicer exterior is not even remotely true for me. I like that Marantz is doing something different in their electronic designs. If it were simply identical to Denon, then why should Marantz exist? To my ear, the Cinema 30 sounded significantly better than the X4800H when it comes to one key metric of live music.....Am I there? It wasn't a close race to my ears, and the difference in price wasn't as much as you would think. So, buy what sounds good to you.

 

[BentonF]

When I was 17 I auditioned a Marantz CD52mkiiSE and sat in that same room was a Technics, Denon all at the same price point. The latter two looked more impressive and substantial to my impressionable young eyes but the sound was glassy and brittle. Irritating. Whatever Marantz did they made the sound more enjoyable even if it didn’t measure as well or have the flash aesthetics of Technics and Denon. I had the same experience when comparing SACD to PCM layer of a hybrid CD. The decay was longer and more detailed of the harpsichord and change falling change of Money on DSOM. The specs of these machines is ‘good enough’ but something is done to voice them differently to make one more enjoyable, liveable and convincing over the others.

 

[napfkuchen]

The specs of these machines is ‘good enough’ but something is done to voice them differently to make one more enjoyable, liveable and convincing over the others.

Is this a copy-paste from a whathifi-review?